Page 117 of Clear Shot

It’s a cliché, but I really want a boy and Hana wants a girl. Yes, of course we just want a healthy baby, but we’re still having a little fun with the details.

“That’ll cut down your choices by fifty percent,” Johan agrees.

“Names are hard,” Anders adds. “We had some options but we didn’t know for sure what his name would be until wesaw him. Then we knew right away he was an Anderson. Well, Claudia did.”

She smiles. “I was pretty sure I wanted some version of his father’s name but like he said, we needed to meet him first.”

“It won’t be long now,” Hana says, rubbing her tiny little bump. She hasn’t gained much weight, which delights her, and the doctor says they’re both healthy. Thankfully, the morning sickness passed after the first trimester and she’s been the Energizer Bunny lately, buzzing around setting up the nursery and decorating the house.

That part has been fun for both of us. Furniture shopping, hiring a decorator to make certain rooms of the house what we consider perfect, and creating an outdoor space that’s been a great place to entertain.

“Okay, everyone!” Claudia stands up at one point and moves to the middle of the room. “We have a surprise for the expectant parents.”

Johan and Jordan disappeared a few minutes ago, and now I see they’ve brought in what looks like a piece of plywood, but it’s been painted with a 3D hockey net. Jordan has a handful of sticks decorated with blue and pink ribbons, and Johan is carrying a bucket.

“Gentlemen, line up!” Johan calls out. “Each of you will take a puck from the bucket and shoot it into the net. Obviously, it’s not a real net because they will charge us a fortune if we damage the walls, so please shoot accurately.”

Everyone laughs.

“What’s the point of the game?” Coach Petrov calls out.

“Most of the pucks have white powder in them, and they will explode when they hit the net. But one of the pucks has either pink or blue powder.”

A cheer goes up and all the men in the room line up, grinning and joking with each other.

“You too,” Johan says to me. “Father of the baby goes first.”

I amble to the front of the room and stare into the bucket. I grab a random puck from the bottom and realize they’re not really pucks—they’re made of something more like thick paper.

“Hit it hard,” Anders stage whispers. “This is like the puck version of a pinata. They don’t break as easily as we anticipated—I tried one last night.”

I nod, drop the puck and gear up.

Wham!

A cloud of white powder litters the floor, which is covered in plastic, and everyone boos.

“Sorry,” I mumble, laughing. I hand the stick to Felix, who shoots with the same result.

“Winner gets a bottle of champagne,” Johan calls out.

The guys all shoot and it’s all just more and more white powder.

“Come on,” Hana whispers, standing next to me.

I wrap my arm around her waist as Mr. Knight fires off a shot.

White powder.

“Damn.” He shakes his head, laughing.

A few more guys shoot and then Coach Petrov grabs a stick. He had a mean slap shot in his day and I know he still has it. He fires off the shot and?—

More white powder.

Dammit.

“It’s a boy,” Hana whispers to me. “I don’t know how I know that but I just do.”